Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Summary Judgment for Reichhold

Hawkins Parnell & Young argued before the Delaware Supreme Court on behalf of Reichhold Incorporated, one of the world’s largest suppliers of resin products. The plaintiff claimed that his cancer was caused in part by exposure to asbestos-containing resins allegedly supplied by Reichhold to an Iowa manufacturing facility where the plaintiff worked. Reichhold’s summary judgment proof showed it supplied a miniscule portion of the resins used by the facility and that the plaintiff’s job duties did not bring him into sufficient contact with respirable asbestos released from Reichhold’s resins. The plaintiff appealed the summary judgment, asserting that co-worker testimony raised a fact question concerning the plaintiff’s alleged exposure to asbestos from Reichhold products. The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the summary judgment. Robert Gilbreath argued the case to the Delaware Supreme Court.